The BBC have run a profile of a Chinese rock band who've been banned from the radio for criticizing the government.How sad, we think. But we're not very surprised. We all know that the authoritarian Chinese regime doesn't respect human rights and civil liberties. Naturally they would want to a silence the free, peaceful voice of democratic youth in the form of rock music...
Except it turns out that the band are criticizing the Chinese government for being too nice:
"Taiwan is ours, Tibet is ours. Compromising with the United States and Japan is a disgrace".I'm reminded of what happened in Algeria when an Islamist party won the first round of the democratic elections in 1991. The military promptly seized power, canceled the elections, and banned religious political parties. Military coups and authoritarianism are generally considered bad. But are they still bad when the people they're suppressing are extremists?"Our lyrics are aimed at our government," says Mr Liu. "It takes a very tough line towards its own people. But outside China it is very soft. When your people are being bullied by others, you should stand up for them. Right now they are being very soft."
3 comments:
This makes me think of the controversy surrounding DW Griffith's Birth of a Nation. If you enjoyed the film, you were quite possibly supporting the KKK, if you were offended, then you were still faced with the question of censorship.. do you need to censor everything that offends you or let anything go in order to promote freedom of expression? Personally, I think China should just let these people be extremists and see what doesn't happen.
Good story and comments. I failed to see relevance to neuropsychology in general and neuroskepticism in patricular.
Well, even neuroskeptics have occasional interests outside neuroscience...
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